Flash-light.



B. BENEDICT.

FLASH LIGHT. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 8, 1914.

Patented Jan. 11, 1916 l/V I/E IV TOR WITNES'SES.

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A TTOR/VEY 'teries eifect the closing of the circuit and th U N 1 TED STATES PATENT OFFIQE. IBERNERD BENEDICT, OF NEW S I ORK, N'. Y., .ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO BEACON MINIATURE ELEGTLRIC COMPANY, INC., 0] NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORA- TION 015 NEW YORK.

FLASH-FLIGHT.

Patented Jan. 11, 1916.

Application f led September 8, 1914. Serial No. 860,542.

and useful Improvements in Flash-Lights,

of which the following is a specification.

The invention pertains more particularly to portable electric lamps of the character designed to be carried in the pocket and whenin use held in the hand and sometimes used as flash lights and at other times for affording a permanent light for a short period.

The invention resides in novel switch or circuit closing mechanism for lamps of the character in question, these lamps usually comprising a metallic exterior casing having a reflector and lamp at one end and a hinged door at the other end, and a battery confined Within the casing and having'one terminal bent into a substantially horizontal position and in engagement with a terminal of the lamp and its other terminal standing parallel with the side'of the casing, which is of sheet metal, to be engaged by a manually operative switch or circuit closer. One of the diiiiculties incident to electric lamps or flash lights of the character in question resides in the fact that the batteries do not always properly fit the casing and that the vertical terminal of the battery which is to be engaged by the circuit closer is not always in the same position, and the result being that in many instances the circuit closer is not adapted to at all times and with all batlighting of the lamp.

W One of the main purposes of my invention "is to provide a circuit closer mechanism adapted to effect the lighting of the lamp re-- gardless ofqthe many irregularities which may exist with respect to the particular dimensions of the battery and the particular location of the terminal of said battery intended to be'engag'ed by the circuit closing switch. The circuit closing switch of my invention is confined wholly within the exterior casing and it is somewhat in the form of a split ring containing between its end portions the terminal of the battery to be engaged by it, said spring at one end being connected with a'sli'd'e'and held close against the inner surfacegof the casing and at its other end being at the inner. side of the battery terminal or between said terminal and the lamp, and the bowed portion of the spring being adjacent to the inner lower surface of the outer end of the exterior casing, so that upon the movement of the slide to close the circuit, the bowed portion of the spring will be pressed against the outer end of the general casing and the inner or free end of the spring thereby caused to move laterally and outwardly or toward the side of the general casing and against the inner face of the battery terminal. Upon the movement of the switch'to break the circuit, the free end of the spring will move laterally and inwardly from the battery terminal. I deem it to be of considerable importance that the circuit closing switch or spring is confined wholly within the general casing of the flash light, the only exposed portion of the switch closing mechanism being a slide mounted on the exterior of the casing and having lugs or lips extending through slots in said casing and engaged with the switch or circuit closing spring, the connection of the slide with the spring being at the inner side of the general casing.

The invention will be fully understood from the detailed description hereinafter presented, reference being had to the accompan ing drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a central vertical section through an electric lamp constructed in accordance with and embodying the invention; Fig. 2 is an edge view,'partly broken away and partly in section, of the same; Fig. 3 is a view corresponding with the upper end of Fig. 2, but having the exposed portion of the slide cut away leaving the lips or lugs carried thereby shown in section; Fig. 4 is a detached perspective view of the switch or circuit closing spring, andFig. 5 is a horizontal section through a portion of the flash light taken on the dotted line 55 of Fig. 1.

In the drawings, 10 designates an exterior sheet metal casing of known type having at its lower end a hinged door 11 and at its upper end a threaded neck 12 receiving the stem of the lamp bulb 13. Within the casing 10 is confined the battery 14 of customary type having one laterally bent terminal 15 in engagement with a terminal of the lamp and a vertical terminal 16 to be engaged by the circuit closing mechanism or switch when it is desired that the lamp shall light.

My new circuit closing mechanism com prises a bowed or split ring spring 17 confined within the casing 10 and a slide 18 mounted on the exterior of the casing and connected with said spring for permitting the manual operation of the same. The slide 18 is not of unusual exterior conformation and is formed from sheet metal and adapted to be operated by the thumb. The slide 18 is formed on its opposite sides with inwardly extending sections or lugs 19 which are extended through parallel slots 20 formed in the casing 10 and then bent inwardly toward each other and upon the shank portion of the spring 17 so as to secure said spring and slide together and bind the slide closely against the outer face of the casing 10 and the shank portion of the spring 17 closely against the inner face of said casing. The inward bending of the lugs 19 to embrace the shank portion of the spring 17 is illustrated more fully in Figs. 1 and 5. The slots 20 are greater in length than the vertical dimensions of the lugs 19, as shown in Fig. 3, and hence said slots permit the slide 18 to have a definite vertical movement first in one direction and then in the other imparted to it. The switch or circuit closing spring 17 has a shank portion 21 which'may lie flat against the inner face of the casing 10' and a curved or bowed portion 22 which extends upwardly "rom sald shank portion and is normally in close relation, at its bend, with the top of the casing 10, as shown in Fig. 1, and the free end of said portion 22 normally stands at the inner side and free of the battery terminal 16,'said battery terminal 16 being between the shank portion 21 and the end of the bowed portion 22 of the circuit closing spring 17. The shank portion 21 is formed in opposite edges with recesses 28 to receive the lugs 19 of the slide 18, these lugs being passed through the slots 20 and said recesses 23 and then bent inwardly toward each other to bind the spring and slide together. The shank portion 21 of the spring or switch 17 is also formed with outwardly extending projections 24 formed by indenting the metal of the spring at the inner face of the shank and depressing the metal outwardly to a slight extent, these projections being provided to snap into'the lower ends of the slots 20 when the lugs 19 of the slide 18 are moved to the outer ends of said slots, said projections then operating to maintain the slide 18 and spring 17 in their operated position and to resist any tendency that the bowed spring might have to automatically move the slide 18 to its lower position.

When the parts are in their normal position shown in Fig. 1, the spring 17 is free of the battery terminal 16 and the slide 18 is in its lower position, and at this time there is no circuit through the lamp. When it is desired that the lamp shall light, the slide 18 will be pushed toward the outer end of the casing 10 and carry the lugs 19 into the outer ends of the slots 20, and this will have the effect of causing the spring 17 to be moved outwardly against the inner surface of the outer end of the casing 10, with the result that the outwafd movement of the spring being resisted by the outer end of the casing, the free end of the spring will curl laterally and pass into electricconnection with the battery terminal 16, thereby completing the circuit to the lamp.

With my construction of circuit closer it is not important that the battery should nicely fit the casing 10, nor that the manufacturer of the battery should see that the battery terminal 16 is always in the identical location, since my circuit closer spring engages the inner face of the battery terminal, and at its contact end is capable of considerable movement with only a limited movement of the slide 18.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a portable electric flash light comprising an'exterior casing and a normally free terminal adjacent to a side wall of said casing, a circuit closing mechanism com-- prising a slide mounted on the exterior of the casing and a bowed spring within the casing connected with said slide, said spring from its shank end curving upwardly adjacent to the end of the casing and then downwardly and outwardly in a lateral direction toward the inner face of the second battery terminal.

2. In a portable electric flash light comprising an exterior casing and a normally free terminal adjacent to a side wall of said casing, a circuit closing mechanism comprising a slide mounted on the exterior of the casing, a bowed spring within the casing connected with said slide, said spring from its shank end curving upwardly adjacent .to the end of the casing and then downwar ily and outwardly in a lateral direction toward the inner face of the second battery terminal, and interlocking means on the casing and spring for detachably locking the spring and slide in their operatedposition.

3. In a portable electric flash light comprising an exterior casing and a normally free terminal adjacent to a side wall of said casing, a circuit closing mechanism comprising a slide mounted on the exterior of the casing and having side lugs extending through parallel slots in said casing and a bowed spring within the casing having its shank end secured" against the same and to said slide by said lugs, said shank end of the spring having recesses in its opposite edges to receive said lugs and said lugs being bent over on said shank end, and said New York and State of New York, this 5th spring from its Shfilk 2nd curving upwardly day of September, A. D. 1914.

1 adjacent to the en 0 the casing and then' 1 downwardly and outwardly in a lateral di- BERNARD BENEDICT 5 rection toward the inner face'of the second Witnesses:

battery terminal. ARTHUR MARION, Signed at New York city, in the county of CHAS. C GILL. 

